Activia/Yogurt

 Yes. I actually have a friend who fed her senior dog half a carton of vanilla activia every day. It kept him totally regular. Worked great. She suggested it, for Emma, but Emma doesn't tolerate dairy. Ena likes it, a lot. I give it to her if she gets an upset tummy.

It is much cheaper to buy the store brand plain yogurt in the large containers.  I don't feel it's good for my dogs to eat the flavored stuff.  I taught myself to like the plain yogurt (it is an aquired taste, I think), so now we just share the plain kind.

 I'm always saying this, but if you want to give your dog probiotic therapy, the best way is to use a concentrated product that will deliver enough CFUs past the dog's intense stomach environment, into the gi where it can do some good.  Remember how we are always saying that dogs can eat nasty rotten stuff without hurting themselves, because of the way their systems are set up?  Well, unfortunately, for the most part, the good organisms that are fed with yogurt will have the same fate as the e. coli and salmonella bugs that are carried in on last weeks' roast beef that Fido sneaked from the trash.

If you want to condition your dog's gi long term, the best way is to feed him PREbiotics.  There's tons of products you can pick up at the health food store.  I give my dogs jicama, steamed and chopped very fine in the food processor.  These natural food supplements travel pretty much unchanged past the stomach activity, and once in the gi, help create probiotic activity right where it's needed.  Nifty, huh?

For acute care, I use a product with very concentrated CFU activity guaranteed.